The Southport Globe: Working to keep ex-offenders out of jail with jobs

Friday, December 23, 2011

Working to keep ex-offenders out of jail with jobs

When John Santa of Southport visited his friend and former company attorney in prison, he never expected it would change his life and start him on a mission to help find prisoners jobs to transition back to the real world.
In 1997, E. Stanton Kennedy, a former Bridgeport attorney, had embezzled money from Santa Energy in Bridgeport and served about four years in prison. While Kennedy did his time, Santa forgave his friend and reconnected with him.
“When I visited the prison, I realized that Stanton was a good guy, and still a good guy who had made a serious mistake,” Santa said. “Good people do bad things. He was wrong to have done it, but I wanted to help.”
During a prison visit, Santa asked Kennedy how he could help get him out of jail. He answered: “I need a job.” From there, Santa tapped business contacts and arranged an interview in prison with Hartford company executives. Before they left jail, they offered Kennedy a job, now on the road to getting paroled and trying to pick up the pieces of his former life.
Santa admits that he could have turned his back on Kennedy and left him to find his way when he was paroled at 73 years old. Most people wouldn’t blame the executive for doing that; his company took a financial hit from Kennedy’s crimes. But that’s not the way Santa sees it. READ MORE: http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/fairfieldsun/news/localnews/110478-working-to-keep-ex-offenders-out-of-jail-with-jobs.html

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